A Walk Through Time

1800s

1869

Jacob Beringer arrives in California and becomes Cellar Foreman for Charles Krug, one of the first commercial winemakers in Napa Valley. Krug's business was right next to the property that would become Beringer winery.

1876

The Beringer Brothers oversee their first harvest and their first crush. With Jacob serving as Winemaker and Frederick as financier, the brothers made approximately 40,000 gallons of wine, or 18,000 cases that first year.

1877

The first two floors of Old Stone Winery are completed, and Chinese workers begin digging 1,200 linear feet of tunnel where the wine will be aged and stored.

1934

1939

During the Golden Gate Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco, Winemaker Fred Abruzzini distributes flyers and maps showing "the main highways to Beringer Bros. Winery and other interesting points...," further establishing Napa Valley as a tourist destination.

1940

Hollywood stars, like Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, visit the winery, and Beringer sells 40,000 cases of wine a year throughout the decade, which was a respectable figure for the time.

1967

1971

Myron Nightingale joins Beringer as just the fifth winemaker in the winery's nearly 100-year history. He developed a special French Sauterne–style wine called, aptly, Nightingale, which is still made and bottled at the winery today.

1990

1996

Wine Spectator names the Beringer 1994 Chardonnay #1 Wine of the Year. Not only is it the first time a white wine has garnered this coveted award, but Beringer now has the distinction of being the first and only winery to have both a white and a red wine named #1 Wine of the Year.

2000s

2000

Beringer pledges a gift of $1,000,000 to COPIA, the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts in Napa.

2000

Laurie Hook is promoted to Winemaker of Beringer Vineyards. Ed Sbragia stays on as Winemaster Emeritus.

2001

Beringer's 125th anniversary, making it the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa Valley.

2004

Maximus, the world's largest bottle of wine, is certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. The bottle, which contained 173 bottles of Beringer 2001 Private Reserve Cabernet, sold for $47,500 at a charity auction.